The business model of data News

Data news is just a description of a trend that has emerged decades ago and is getting worse. What journalists don't realize is that this is a business of refining information, and readers want to connect with the numbers that appear in the news every day. In this field, a wave of entrepreneurship has sprung up around the world.

Of all the interest and hope in data news, there is one issue that most newsroom concerns: what is its business model? We should not rashly predict that we may be able to find clues from the current situation and status of the media industry. The fact is that many news organizations have benefited from this new thing. Such terms as "data news", including the hottest "data science" of the moment, may sound fresh and not practical at first. On the contrary, the new labels are just a description of a trend that has emerged decades ago and is on the rise.

Data is business

Many journalists do not seem fully aware of the scale of profits that data collection, analysis and visualization can achieve. This is a business about purifying information. With data tools and technology, people are increasingly able to grasp and understand the most complex issues: international finance, bonds, population, education and so on. The so-called "business intelligence" is such a pile of technology concepts collectively, they try to clearly explain what happened in the company. Those who belong to our era of large-scale, high profit companies, such as McDonald's, http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/14570.html ">zara, H&m, and so on, all rely on data tracking to make money, And make a lot of money.

These tools and technologies are now expanding in scope, starting from business to other areas, such as the media industry. Some journalists are acutely aware of and seized of this opportunity. Take Tableau company as an example, they provide customers with a complete set of visual tools. Also as the ' Big data ' movement, many technology companies use (usually open source) software packages from a large number of data to explore, mining, blink of the time can extract effective information, to draw in-depth insights.

Indeed, these technologies can now be applied to journalism. The Guardian and the New York Times team are working tirelessly to try and break through, in the hope of expanding the boundaries of the field. What we see now is undoubtedly the tip of the iceberg.

But how exactly does the data news make money? In this big global market that opens up to us, there is only one thing at the moment: putting data away from people's minds. In other words, let the data be visible and knowable. We want to connect with the astronomical figures that appear on the news every day-what the millions of and billions of mean for us civilians.

The hope of media transformation?

Some of the data-oriented media companies have been using these principles for practical purposes and have been rewarded handsomely. They have good growth momentum, and sometimes they can create a bright profit. Bloomberg is one of the delegates. The company has 300,000 terminals and provides financial data to its clients. In the financial industry, this is undoubtedly a very powerful tool for competition. Each terminal device is equipped with a keypad with color keys, providing up to 30,000 functional options that customers can use to query, compare, analyze, and make decisions. According to a 2008 review of The New York Times, the core business will generate at least about 6.3 billion dollars a year in revenue for the company. That is why Mr Bloomberg has continued to expand, including a wide range of recruiting journalists, and the acquisition of the industry's prestigious but unprofitable ' Business Week '.

Another representative example is the Thomson Reuters Media group from Canada. The group was the first local newspaper to buy a well-known British news headline for the industry. More than 20 years ago, they decided to withdraw from the press and switch to the information services industry, with the aim of providing customers with critical information and in-depth analysis of a number of industries. If you have any doubts about how to make use of specialized information, suggest reading about the history of the group on Wikipedia.

And turn to the Economist. The magazine has undoubtedly established an excellent and influential brand in the media field. At the same time, the magazine's "Economist think tank" unit is more like a consulting department that provides forecasts of trends in almost all countries. They have hundreds of professional journalists, claiming to serve 1.5 million customers worldwide.

In addition, we can draw inspiration from a number of micro-data-oriented businesses. EMarketer from the United States, for example, provides business comparisons, data graphs, and implementation recommendations for anyone interested in internet marketing. Another example is Stiftung Warentest from Germany, a body that specializes in investigating product and service levels. Statista, also from Germany, provides introductory support for the visualization of public information.

Now, in this area, a wave of entrepreneurship has sprung up around the globe, certainly covering all areas-for example, Timetric and Opencorporates, Kasabi, infochimps and data harsh, which aim to ' reinvent business research '. In this field, the business of many companies is experimental, but, with concerted efforts, they can be seen as an important symbol of change.

So, data-oriented journalism-mass media is like a sleeping giant. In Germany, 7.2 billion euros are poured into the field each year. Journalism is a different product: if it is well run, it is not only profitable, but also plays a pivotal role in society. Once the facts of the data industry are readily available to provide better and more reliable insights, more jobs will be created in the newsroom.

Beyond attention, is trust

For data journalism, it is not just a preemptive strike, but a credible source of information. In the many worlds of this channel, attention may be the aim, but trust is an increasingly scarce resource. Data journalists can assist in collecting, synthesizing, and giving audiences a truly deep understanding of complex issues, presenting a wide variety of information that is often difficult to obtain. Rather than simply looping through a newsletter and repeating news stories that other places have heard, data journalists can use interactive charts and direct contacts to give readers a clear, understandable, and preferably tailored view. Their work is not trivial, and indeed invaluable.

So what's the best way for aspiring data journalists to explore this area and convince administrators to support this innovative project?

First, find the closest opportunity to point: a goal that is readily available. For example, you might have gathered useful structured text and data. The best example is the Los Angeles Times ' database of murderers '. At this point, data and visualization are key, not hindsight. Editors collect all the crimes that can be found, and only then write articles based on this. Over time, the collection of such data becomes better, more in-depth and more valuable.

These are not made overnight. It takes time. A promising indicator for this is the Texas Tribune (Texas Tribune) and ProPublica, two supposedly post-print media companies, who are said to have raised funds for nonprofit news organizations earlier than originally planned.

Reaching a point where everything is relevant to data-whether as a generalist or as an expert on the data chain-provides a valuable perspective for those who believe in journalism. A famous German publisher recently said in an interview, "There is a new organization claiming to be a data journalist, and what they are not looking for is a small-time thing." ”

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)